5. Equipment: Level Instrument
• Automated Levels
■ Easy to use (not power!)
■ Needs experience
■ Robust even in hostile environment
• Digital Levels
■ Push-button technique
■ No reading errors, special staff
■ Readings are stored and analyzed digitally
7. Digital Levels
• Uses Barcode staffs
• Internal storage of data
■ Download to the computer
■ Automated height computation + adjustment
■ No feeling for quality anymore
■ You frequently need power plugs
13. Equipment: Change Plate
• For long survey lines
• Allows change of instruments
■ Best is a metal change plate
■ Screws e.g. at fences
■ Sharp stones or nails
• Beware of dark colors
It’s not the
Indonesian-
German Dictionary,
It’s the nail!
17. Survey Markers
• Gives you a fixed point
■ Should be of good quality
■ Should be long-term
■ Preferable in bedrock, settled buildings, or bridges
■ Do not use fences or walls
19. Some Basic Definitions
• Level surface (e.g. the geoid)
■ A water surface with no motion
■ Gravity gradient is the normal to the level surface
■ The Instrument’s Bubble is in the normal (!)
• Horizontal surface
■ At the instruments axis, the horizontal surface is tangent
to the level surface
■ Over short distances (<100 m) the horizontal surface
and the level surface will coincide
■ For long leveling lines the effects of the gravity field
must be considered
20. Leveling rods
Line of sight
Back
sight
Fore
sight
Gravity Gradient
Basic Principle of Leveling
• Measures height differences between points
■ Along a line
■ Several points from one occupation
bs
fs
Δh = bs -
fs
21. Definitions
• Back sight (BS)
■ The first reading from a new instrument stand
point (i.e. take the height to the instrument)
• Fore sight (FS)
■ The last reading from the current instrument
station (i.e. give the height to a benchmark)
• Intermediate sight (IS)
■ Any sighting that is not a back sight or fore sight
22. Reading a Staff
1422
• Read the [m], [dm] & [cm]
• Estimate the [mm]
• Check yourself for frequent
used numbers (2/3) or (7/8)
23. Basic Rules for Leveling
• Always start and finish a leveling run on a
Benchmark (BM or TGBM) and close the loops
• Keep fore sight and back sight distances as
equal as possible
• Keep lines of sight short (normally < 50m)
• Never read below 0.5m on a staff (refraction)
• Use stable, well defined change points
• Beware of shadowing effects and crossing
waters
25. How to: A sample loop
S2
S1
New Benchmark
NB1
Tidal
Hut
TH
New Benchmark
NB2
26. How To: Field Notes
Back Inter Fore Point
TH
NB1
NB2
NB1
TH
1327
3982
S2
S1
New Benchmark
NB1
Tidal
Hut
TH
New Benchmark
NB2
2365
0986
2347
3724
3753
1101
28. Compute levels
Back Inter Fore dh H Comment
TH
BM1
BM2
BM1
TH
IST
SOLL
1327
3982
0986
3724
2365
2347
3753
1101
1379
2652
9792 9793
-0001
+1
100 000
100 000
0000
0001 (SOLL – IST)
´7345
´8624
0
97 345
98 724
97 348
?
0
29. Loop misclosure
• Misclosure Error
■ The difference of the measured height difference
(ΔHmeas) to the known height (closed loops = 0,
known benchmarks = height difference)
Misclosure = ΔHSOLL – ΔHIST
• Point errors at double observed points
30. Achievable Accuracy
• Instrument dependent
■ Roughly from the instrument
⬥NI002 = 0,2mm/km (doubled line)
⬥NI025 = 2.5mm/km (doubled line)
• Survey line length dependent
■ ms = m1km √s, s in km
■ mH = (m1km/2) √s, s in km #(middle of the line)
31. An acceptable misclose?
• Small misclosures in closed level loops are
expected because of the accumulation of
random errors and can be adjusted
• If the misclosure is large, the loop (or part of
it) must be repeated
• Misclosures can also result from errors in published
BM levels and from BM instability
32. Testing the misclose
• The amount of misclosure acceptable using a
specific instrument and survey line length
• For our example, a second order leveling
standard is adopted*…
misclosure ≤ 2,5√s mm
• where s is the length of the line in km
*Dependent on your contry’s rules and the instrument used
33. Our example
• The misclosure is +1 mm
• The length of the loop is 0.4 km
• Acceptable error is
2.5√(0.4) = ±1.6 mm
• The misclosure of +1 mm is within the limit
• Mean error for NB1 = 2.5/2* √(0.4)
35. Errors in leveling, e.g.
• Collimation, Parallax
• Change point / staff instability
• Instrument or Benchmark instability
• Refraction
• Uncalibrated staff or levels
• Reading, booking, or computation errors
• Fore- and backsight distances different
39. Collimation error
• Occurs when the line of sight (as defined by
the lens axis and cross-hairs) is not
horizontal
• Leads to an incorrect staff reading
horizontal line
error
40. Stand point 1
Stand point 2
´ ´
´ ´
Instrument test: Nähbauer
a′1 = a1+e
b′1 = b1+2e
Δh = a1−b1
Δh′1 = a′1−b′1 = a1−b1−e = Δh−e
With Δh′1+e = Δh′2−e
Δh′2−Δh′1
2
a′2 = a2+2e
b′2 = b2+e
Δh = a2−b2
Δh′2 = a′2−b′2 = a2+e−b2 = Δh+e
Δh =Δh′2−e
e =
42. Procedure of leveling
1. The instrument must be check before use! (see lecture)
2. The instrument and level must be stable settled-up
3. The bubble tube must be leveled before the reading
• Beware of sun exposure (will wander)
• Ensure the instruments pendulum is in-limit
4. The instrument must be set up in the middle between two
staffs
• Prevents curvature effects
• If impossible, use the same distances, but opposite for the
next readings
5. You must not use the parallax screw between the backsight
and foresight readings
43. 6. Readings must be taken 30-50 cm above the ground
● Surface refractions
● Beware also of temperature gradients (inside/outside buildings)
!!!!
7. Staff should be set up vertically
8. A change plate should be used
9. Leveling must be done in two opposite directions but the
same line (beware of gravity gradients)
10. Staff should be calibrated, especially if INVAR
11. Be careful when crossing rivers (large water surfaces)
● Use “same-time” (mutual) observations
● Repeat it during different times of the day
Procedure of Leveling